Shine
1996
****
Director: Scott Hicks
Cast: Geoffrey Rush, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Noah Taylor, Alex Rafalowicz
A touching, partly true story of Australian pianist David Helfgott. The demands of the music and his overbearing father lead to an eventual nervous breakdown. This is a well-acted but not entirely convincing drama in which mental illness is portrayed as something cute like forgetting to put your clothes on. Geoffrey Rush won an Oscar for his impressive but showy performance.
